"When you see the beginning of the piece and two people stand up with whirly tubes, you're like, 'What am I getting into?'" says Carmen Ableson, violinist with the Varo Quartet. That sense of surprise is central to the Chicago-based ensemble's programming philosophy — and Kalamazoo audiences will get to experience it firsthand when the quartet arrives for a residency at Western Michigan University on March 18.
The residency culminates in a public concert at 7:30 p.m. in the Dalton Center Recital Hall, presented as part of WMU's Bullock Series. Violinists Ableson and Hannah Christiansen spoke with Cara Lieurance about the group's mission and what's on the program.
Formed in 2023, the Varo Quartet was brought together by cellist Isadora Nojkovic, with members who had crossed paths through high school, college, and orchestral fellowships over the years. Their guiding idea is to pair familiar masterworks with lesser-known pieces so each illuminates the other. "Hopefully present the known works in a new light and present the unfamiliar works in comfortable and illuminating context," Christiansen explains.
The six-work concert includes Haydn's String Quartet in C major from Op. 20 — a Christiansen favorite she describes as "real funky" — alongside newer music. Ableson is enthusiastic about Nicole Lizée's Another Living Soul, a piece originally commissioned by Kronos Quartet for their 50 for the Future project. Scored for string quartet plus whirly tubes, gravity tubes, and bells — with the players also singing — the work draws inspiration from stop-motion animation. "She uses the extra stuff, the literal toys, in a way that's not kitschy at all," Ableson says. "It's actually very beautiful."
The program also features Three Places by Kari Watson, whose three movements draw on locations along Lake Michigan, using extended string techniques to evoke ambient soundscapes like distant trains and waves on shore.
During the day, the quartet will workshop pieces by four or five WMU student composers before the evening concert. Tickets are available through the WMU School of Music website or at the door.
